Railway-car coupling.



J. F. & V. S. DURBIN.

RAILWAY GAR coUPLING.

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Illlllllll INM' J. F. n V. S. DURBIN.

RAILWAY GAR GOUPLING.

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:e7-mui r III IIEJIIII MUIIIIIIIIUIIIIII narran sTaTns PATENT onnion.

JAMES F. DURBIN AND VOTAW S. DUR-BIN, OF FORT SCOTT, KANSAS.

RAILWAY-CAR COUPLING.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1911.

Application filed May 31, 1910. I Serial No. 564,116.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES F. DURBIN and Vo'rAw S. DURBIN, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Fort Scott, in the county of Bourbon andState of Kansas, have invented new and 'useful Improvements inRailway-Car Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to car couplers of the automatic type, and has forits object to provide a novel construction for insuring the opening ofthe knuckles automatically, and which means shall present the minimum offrictional resistance to the closing of the coupler.

Ve are aware that variousr contrivances and constructions have beendevised and patented for accomplishing the same purpose we have in view,and without attempting to deal with such devices specifically, we wouldsimply state that many of them are open to the objection that theycannot be employed on car couplers of the standard type, others are socomplicated as to be impracticable, and still others, if meeting theabove objections, are inoperative for practical purposes for the reasonthat the resist- 'ance offered to the closing of the knuckle is so greatas to cause excessive wear, and frequently breakage, 'of the parts.

Our invention aims to present an entirely practicable and simple meansfor accomplishing the purposes stated, and the employment of whichnecessitates no change in the general construction of the standard 'typeof car coupler. Furthermore, a coupler-head provided with ourimprovement may be used in connection with the standard coupler-headwhich has not such improvement.

In the accompanying drawings -Figure 1 is a sectional plan viewillustrating two coupler-heads'in position to be coupled, thecoupler-head at the right having itsl knuckle locked in a closedposition, and the knuckle of the opposing head being in an openposition. Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isan end view of a coupler-head provided with our improvement, the knucklebeing removed. Fig. 4 is a section on the line t-4 of Fig. 1, with theknuckle in the position indicated by the dot-ted lines; that is to say,the knuckle being in the position it occupies before it is in the closedor locked position indicated in the full lines. Fig. 5 is a section onthe line 5- 5 of Fig. 1, showing the position of the knuckle in theclosed position. Fig. is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing theposition of the knuckle as it starts to open. Fig. 7 is a cross sectionthrough the tongue ofthe knuckle; and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic viewshowing the points of relative coincidence and departure of the surfacesof the two inclined bearings employed for accomplishing the object ofthe invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the numerals 1, 2 indicate correspondingcouplerheads of the standard type, eachv head having mounted therein, ona knuckle-pin 3, a knuckle 4, having a tongue 5 provided at its rear endwith a hook 6. The hooks 6 of the respective knuckles are adapted toengage behind .locking-pins 10, these parts being of the usual or anypreferred construct-ion. The heads 1 and 2 are hollow as usual, and inthe floor of each, on the same side as the knuckle-pin 3, are providedtwo inclined bearings 12, 13, respectively, having substantiallyparallel 'lines of direction and as the construction. for eachcouplerhead is the same, we will describe the construction withreference to the coupler-head 2, shown to t-he right in-'Figs land 2.

Referring' more particularly tothe views shown on Sheet 2 of thedrawing, it will be seen that we provide two distinct inclined bearingswhich engage with the inclined under side 14 of the tongue 8. Asillustrated by Fig. 8, the bearing 13, which is toward the front of thecoupler-head, is inclined upward toward the side thereof from a point onthercoupler-head indicated by the point a, to a point corresponding tothe point c, at a greater degree than the inclination of the bearing 12for the same distance,

while from the point c to the point CZ, corresponding to the side of thecoupler, the degree and plane Yof inclination are substantiallycoincident. In other words, from the point a to the point cthe uppersurface of the bearing -13 is lower than the same surface of the bearing12. By this arrangement of bearing surfaces we obtain the advantage ofsecuring anA easy closing movement of the knuckle by insuring that theminimum frictional resistance shall be opposed t0 such movement. Firstpremising that there -is always a slight play between the knuckle andthe knuckle-pin, the manner in which the arrangement of the two inclinedsurfaces will facilitate the closing movement of the knuckle will bemore readily understood from an inspection of Figs. 1, 5 and 6, and theoperation will now be described.

Assuming the knuckle to be in the open position, when the coupler-headsare brought together the knuckle is forced to, or slightly beyond, atrue vertical position in the direction of the head, and the rear partof the tongue 8 will have its inclined under side 111 resting on thebearing 12, which is farthest removed from the point of application ofpower, that is, the front of the knuckle, and Where, consequently, theleverage, and the pressure exerted by the tongue on the bearing 12, isless than would be the case if the tongue were resting solely on theincline 13. There is, therefore, practically no tendency for the tongue,or the edge thereof, to bite into the metal of the incline 12, andthereby oppose the passage of the tongue over the same, as occurs wherea single incline at the front of the coupler is employed. Furthermore,the degree of inclination of the incline 12 being relatively small, thetongue willV easily ride up and over the same. This movement continuesuntil the tongue reaches the point indicated by c, in Fig. 8, on theincline bearing 12, where the'planes of the upper surfaces of thebearings 12 and 13 are substantially coincident, and from this point tothe point d the tongue will ride over and rest upon both bearings. Fromthe point on thebearings corresponding to the point c, indicated in 'Fig8, to the upper end of the bearings, the

degreeV of inclination of said bearings is greater than that of eitherof them from the point a to the point c, for this greater ineline,especially of the forward bearing 13, is necessary to insure a certainand quick descent of the tongue to cause the knuckle to open. By havingthe tongue travel on both bearings in its passage thereon correspondingto the distance between the points c and el, the relativelyrapid rise ofthe tongue may be effected without thereby permitting the s aid tongueto be canted sufficiently to cause it to bind on the knucklepin or tobite into either bearingY surface. It is necessary, as stated, that theknuckle shall open easily and rapidly, and with certainty, and this wesecure by taking advantage of the slight play between the knuckle andthe pin whereby the weight of the lower part of the knuckle will cause aslight cant of the latter, which is sufficient to lift the tongue 8 offof the bearing 12 so that it will rapidly descend and ride over theforward bearing 13 only, which, owing to the quickness of its pitch, andits location in proximity to the knuckle-pin, will insure a more certainand rapid descent than if the tongue was supported only by the bearing12. This will be clearly apparent from an inspection pidity andcertainty in the opening movement.

A feature aiding in the operation of our improvement is the provision ofan inclined lip 16 surrounding the lower edge of each `1 knuckle, thepurpose of which, in operation, is to prevent the knuckle from droppingout of the opposing coupler-head in the event that either draw-barshould be pulled from its car. lower end of the knuckle at the frontside and the added weight thereof, when the knuckle is released, aids incausing the said These lips are provided on thel knuckle to assume theposition shown in Fig. 6.

We claim: p

1. In a car coupler, a head having two inclined bearings, located atdifferent distances from the front thereof and having substantiallyparallel lines of direction, the

forward bearing, for a portion of its length, Y

having its bearing surface on a lower plane than the rear bearing, and aknuckle loosely pivoted in said head and having a tongue adapted to haveits under side coperate with said bearings under the play of the knuckleon its pin, whereby said tongue will first engage and ride upward on therear bearing in the closing movement of the knuckle and will firstengage and ride downward on the front bearing in the opening movement ofthe knuckle.

2. In a car coupler, a head provided with two inclined bearings locatedat different distances from the front of the coupler, the rear bearinghaving a less inclination and being relatively higher through a portionof its length than the forward bearing, and substantially coinciding ininclination and height with the forward bearing throughout the remainderof its length, a knuckle loosely pivoted in said head, and having atongue provided with an inclinedlower side adapted, when the knuckle isreleased, under the play of the knuckle'onits pin, to be lifted from therear and ride only on the forward bearing, and in the closing movementof the knuckle, to first engage and ride upward on the rear or higherbearing.

3. In a car coupler, a head provided with two inclined bearings locatedat different distances from the front of the coupler, the rear bearinghaving a lessinclination and being relatively higher through a portionof its length than the forward bearing, and Substantially coinciding ininclination and ioo height with the vforward bearing throughout theremainder of its length, a knuckle loosely pivoted in said head andhaving a tongue provided with an inclined lower side adapted, in theclosing movement of the knuckle, to first engage and ride upward on therear or higher bearing, and a weight in the form of a projection on thelower end of the front side of said knuckle operating, when the lmuckleis released, under the play of the knuckle on its pin, to cant the upperend of the knuckle forward, and thereby cause said tongue to rest uponand ride downward on the forward bearing.

witnesses.

JAMES F. DURBIN. VOTAW S. DURBIN.

Witnesses to the signature of James F. Durbin:

STELLA HILL, v C. T. HUNN.

Witnesses to the signature of Votaw S. Durbin:

LENA M. CARLE, JENNIE ANDERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C.

